36 pages • 1 hour read
MolièreLe Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1670A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Act IChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act I Summary
At the beginning of the first act, a music pupil sits at a table with the Music Master amid “a great assembly of instruments” (10). They are writing a song that was commissioned by Monsieur Jourdain. The Music Master and the Dance Master arrange their musicians and dancers. The pupil has finished the song while M. Jourdain slept. The Music Master comments that they have a nice job, composing and creating for M. Jourdain, who has “visions of nobility and gallantry” (10), and although Jourdain doesn’t understand the art they make for him, pays them well. The Dance Master expresses that showing his dances to those who can appreciate them is better payment, but the Music Master points out that “pure praises do not provide a comfortable existence” (11).
M. Jourdain enters, transitioning into Scene 2. He refers to the performance as a “little skit” (13), revealing that he is having himself “dressed today like the people of quality” (14) and that he could not get his stockings on. M. Jourdain tells the Masters that they must stay until he is dressed. They agree, flattering him. M. Jourdain calls two lackeys, then tells the Masters to begin their “little show” (15). The Music Master tells M. Jourdain that his pupil has composed the serenade that he requisitioned. M. Jourdain suggests that the Master should have composed it himself, and he asserts that the pupil has written an excellent melody. A musician sings, and M. Jourdain complains that the song is too melancholy and makes him sleepy, singing instead a silly song he prefers about sheep.
The Masters compliment him further, suggesting that he learn music as he is learning dance. M. Jourdain is also learning from a Fencing Master and a Philosophy Master. The Music Master and the Dance Master argue which one of them practices the more necessary art. They begin their performance for M. Jourdain, starting with the music. It is a pastoral love story, and M. Jourdain complains that the pieces are always about shepherds. When it ends, M. Jourdain calls it “well-done, and there are some pretty enough sayings in it” (20). As the Dance Master prepares to begin his piece, M. Jourdain asks, “Are these shepherds too?” (21). The Dance Master replies, “They’re whatever you please. Let’s go!” (21). The dance is the interlude between the first and second acts.
Act I Analysis
The first act functions largely to demonstrate that Monsieur Jourdain is a pompous, ignorant fool. He is surrounded only by people he has hired, and has constructed a bubble in which he receives only praise. M. Jourdain’s interactions with his tutors undermine any sympathy the audience might feel for him and set him up as an object of mockery. He spends large amounts of money on art he does not understand. His tastes are pedantic, but he pays experts to pretend that they are not. It is clear from the beginning that the Music Master and Dance Master are taking advantage of him. His ludicrous outfit provides a comical sight gag, as he has stuffed his legs into stockings that are too small and is parading about half-dressed.
The act also presents M. Jourdain’s ridiculous understanding of what it means to be a “person of quality.” Much of the humor comes from the fact that M. Jourdain trusts blindly those who are noble or who teach qualities that he perceives as noble. It is clear from his first interaction with the Music Master that M. Jourdain will never attain his goal.
The tutors, however, are not spared as objects of derision. Although they display much more social awareness than M. Jourdain, they too are laughable. Although the Dance Master waxes on about the desire for an audience who understands his art, he panders to M. Jourdain just as quickly as the Music Master. Ironically, as M. Jourdain places his blind trust in the Music Master and Dance Master and they complain that M. Jourdain is too stupid to understand their art, the art they present is mediocre, implying that they are either mediocre artists or offering minimal effort. There is no mention in the first act of M. Jourdain’s wife or his intentions to be unfaithful to her, but his overbearing manner frames him as a boorish lout. The play satirizes those members of the bourgeoisie—the middle class—who have earned enough money to play on the field of the nobility but do not have the class or training to fit in.
